Lok Sabha elections: Hazaribagh, BJP's citadel, sees fight without Sinha family for first time since 1998

Ramgarh | Hazaribagh: Suraj, a resident of a village near Patratu, thinks hard to remember the name of the member of Parliament. "Our constituency is Hazaribagh," he says. Then he fishes out his mobile phone and types. Then looks up and says, "Jayant Sinha. "Agar kaam karwaya hota toh naam jaante na (Had he got some work done we would have known the name)."

Hazaribagh, considered a BJP citadel, is witnessing an interesting fight. It has been the family borough of bureaucrat-turned-politician Yashwant Sinha. But this is the first time since 1998 that neither Sinha nor his son is contesting the election. Sinha represented Hazaribagh in 1998 and 1999 but was defeated in 2004 by CPI's Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta. He won again in 2009. In 2014, his son Jayant got the ticket and held the finance portfolio as a minister of state and later got civil aviation. In 2019, Jayant won by 4.79 lakh votes. However, this time he has been dropped and party has fielded Manish Jaiswal, a two-term MLA from Hazaribagh. The Congress has fielded Jai Prakash Bhai Patel, three-term MLA from Mandu who quit BJP in March and recently joined the Congress. In terms of caste arithmetic, scales are tilted in favour of Patel, an OBC leader. Jaiswal belongs to the Vaishya community.

The biggest question of the election remains - how big is the Yashwant Sinha factor? On April 3, Yashwant Sinha addressed the media at his residence in Hazaribagh wherein he declared his support to INDIA bloc candidate. "I have come forward in the role of a guardian in accordance with the sentiments of the people of Hazaribagh. I spent 40 years in Hazaribagh and entered public life. My only aim has been to progress the constituency, and will use my remaining energy to make J.P. Patel victorious," he had announced. "I don't personally know why Jayant's ticket was dropped, but if it was because of me, I regret it."

While Jayant Sinha has come out in support of the official candidate on microblogging site X, he has stayed away from all election meetings of Jaiswal.

Meanwhile, his son Aashir Sinha was seen at an election rally of Patel triggering rumours that Aashir may join the Congress. Congress may smell an opportunity in Hazaribagh but BJP's organization remains strong. On the ground, the constituency is plagued by the problem of drinking water and irrigation water. It is intriguing especially since it has the Patratu dam.

Mohammed Ansari, a boatman at Patratu dam, says, "In our village we get water once in four days. We cannot depend on agriculture. This region is parched." It seems ironical since it hosts the dam. "The dam is very low," offers Amit. "We get enough water only to grow one crop. Not more. We remain dependent on rains. Isn't it ironical. We were all displaced to make way for the dam and we never benefitted from dam in terms of water," he says. The youth complain about lack of employment opportunities as well.